Leda II-class light cruiser
The Leda II-class light cruiser is a class of light cruiser in service with the Free Planets Star Fleet. The class is one of the last ships designed and built by the old Free Planets Alliance before its collapse, and incorporated what at the time was considered the most advanced technology available. The design was adapted for use by the New Free Planets Alliance and was further modernized to its current form. As a result of the relative youth of the design, the Leda II-class has been few through fewer major design revisions than some of her fellow classes. While older designs such as the Shiva-class reached as far as their Flight VII configurations, the Leda II-class remains only on her Flight IV configuration. The class remains a mainstay of the new Free Planets Star Fleet, serving in nearly every formation, as an escort for larger ships as well as a squadron leader for smaller destroyers. History The Leda II-class is a reaction to the development of the Imperial Brünhild-class battleship, at the time a quantum leap over the existing Imperial battleship classes. The new armor and protective technologies incorporated into the Brünhild-class rendered her nearly invulnerable to hostile fire from the forward arc, and vastly improved all-around protection. Many likened the appearance of the Brünhild to the 'Dreadnought shock' of the early 20th century, so radical was her design. It was unknown to the Alliance at the time that although powerful and effective, the technologies in Brunhild were too expensive and complex for mass production. Brunhild would remain alone, although her technologies would later be incorporated into the Percival, the first battleship constructed under the reign of the Goldenlöwe dynasty. As a result of Brünhild's appearance, the Alliance began an emergency program to develop its own ships incorporating the same technology. Work had already been underway on a number of improvements, but the Brünhld shock provided the necessary impetus for serious design work to begin. The Star Fleet chose to begin work on the 'New Cruiser Design Scheme' as a result. A number of factors influenced the final decision of a cruiser-class testbed. Firstly, cruisers were large enough to house and power the new technologies, which in some cases were not yet sufficiently miniaturized for destroyer use. Secondly, the existing cruiser design was reaching replacement age, and it was hoped the resulting design could be refined into a mass-production model. Leda II ''herself was the second ship of the 'New Cruiser Design Scheme' laid down, at the Heinessen Number 1 Shipyard in June 3596 C.E. She was launched in February of the next year, and after a period of trials was inducted into the 1st Fleet on October 1 of that year. As a result, she did not serve in the disastrous invasion of the Empire the previous year, but was tasked shortly after commissioning with ferrying Admiral Yang Wen-li along with an emergency squadron of reinforcements to relieve Iserlohn Fortress from its siege by the Empire. Her new protective technologies demonstrated their worth when she was struck by enemy fire, but took no damage. After the battle, ''Leda II returned to her posting above Heinessen, participating with the 1st Fleet in its battle against the Imperial counter-invasion. Surviving the campaign, she was returned to Heinessen following the signing of the Treaty of Barlat, and was not scheduled to be dismantled. In 3598 C.E., she served as Yang's courier once again, ferrying the admiral and his accomplices in their escape from the capital, and joined the El-Facil Revolutionary Reserve Force. Serving at the Battle of the Corridor under this banner, she was then used as the transport for Admiral Yang and the civilian leadership of the El-Facil Revolutionary Government to planned talks with Kaiser Reinhard, but was ambushed and boarded by Terraist assassins, who succeeded in assassinating both Yang and the Revolutionary Government. Recuse forces aboard Ulysses arrived too late, although the surviving crewmembers were evacuated. Leda II's fate is unknown after this point. As few ships of the class had been produced by the time of the collapse, no ships of this class accompanied the exile fleet that founded the New Free Planets Alliance, although the design schematics were kept in the master databases. Hence, years later, the design was chosen as the new standard light cruiser, and modifications incorporating new and improved technologies were begun. Although Leda II had not been her class leader, all current designs are based on her sub-type, and thus take her class name. Design The 'New Cruiser Design Scheme' resulted in the creation of a drastically different design than the standard Alliance aesthetic. Previous ships had all relied on rounded but rather flat forward faces, leading to a narrow yet tall frame, with widely-spaced forward batteries. Leda II used a sloping, wedge-shaped prow incorporating improved shield generators and armor, allowing her to deflect incoming fire in much the same manner as Brünhild. Her engine was also mounted horizontally, creating a ship that was wider than she was tall structurally. The primary neutron cannon battery is concentrated at the peak of this sloped prow, minimizing the exposed face. Primary launch hangars were moved from the ship's ventral face to its dorsal face, behind the original bridge tower, although secondary launch facilities are still present on the ventral face. Also distinctive are two large pure water tanks, now converted for non-volatile fuel storage for the ship's protomatter reactors. Water storage was moved to the ship's structural periphery, to provide additional radiation shielding. Further distinguishing the class are a set of Boussard ramscoops, normally reserved for battleships. The ramscoops were added to offset the class' higher fuel consumption as a result of their more powerful engines. The ramscoops are located on the port and starboard sides, at the end of the extended prow. Many of the design features and technologies first introduced in the Leda II-class were later incorporated into other designs. Armament As a warship, the Leda II-class carries a heavy armament for her size, roughly divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary weapons based on role and power. AS a prototype ship, Leda II herself was the testbed of many new technologies, offsetting her initially lower number of weapons relative to the old cruiser design. Although her main battery was set at four neutron cannons, fewer than the six neutron cannons used in the old cruiser, these were new models with improved high-performance accelerators, resulting in a range, damage, and accuracy improvement over the old class. This design was the root of the technology later used to standardize the 30 cm neutron beam cannon as the NFPA Star Fleet's preferred weapon. With the reduction in shield generator size, a refractive laser system was installed in the prow, augmenting her coverage of fire. A pair of railguns was also installed on the port and starboard sides, forward of the ramscoops. The secondary battery of electron beam cannons was centered below the bridge tower, on the port and starboard sides aft of the prow. This gave the ship good coverage for broadside engagements. Missile batteries are located along the ventral and dorsal sides, forward of the bridge and aft of the prow. The plasma carronade arrays are located on the dosal, ventral, port, and starboard faces, one set around the engineering space aft of the bridge, and one forward of the bridge where the prow joins to the main hull. Anti-fighter and anti-ordinance systems are distributed around the hull. Defense Systems Leda II's distinctive hull shape is the result of the implementation of a new sloping armor system as well as improved shield generators, designed to counter the sloped armor system used on Brünhild. The shielding system was improved to deflect even battleship fire for a short period of time. After production resumed, further improvements and additional shields were added. The armor type was changed, and the layering improved, as new armor technologies were rolled out to all ships in the fleet. The shields were strengthened, and three new types of shields were added. The ship now carries a multi-layer shield system, resulting in drastically improved protection. This class is the last main-line warship class to be designed with older composite armor. As with all other current-service classes, the Leda II-class was converted to a nanodiamond structural frame and armor layout in their most recent flight transitions. Complement Although significantly larger than the older cruiser class already in service, the Leda II-class required a smaller crew complement thanks to her improved automation. Initial crew requirements were only 326 versus the 393 officers and men required for the Grand Canal-type cruiser. Several improvements in automation technology were made during the Battle of Shiva during the time of the Iserlohn Republic, allowing a skeleton crew of only 52 to man the ship in battle, albeit with difficulty. These technologies were refined further to reduce difficulty, allowing for three 50-man shifts to run the ship at full efficiency. Primary crew areas are stored in subspace, while minimal facilities and tank beds are stored in the ship itself. This allows the ship's crew to operate without support from the crew section in battle if necessary. The primary hangar for combat craft is located aft of the main bridge on the dorsal face, opening aft. This houses the ship's complement of fighters and mobile units. A second hangar is located on the ventral face, holding the ship's shuttles. Engineering Plant The main engineering plant provides sufficient power for all shipboard systems, with room for expansion and power export to external consumers. The main reactors provide an energized plasma that is distributed directly to devices throughout the ship and converted locally if necessary to electricity. The initial high-output fusion reactors used as the main power source for Alliance ships was replaced by the more efficient protomatter-palladium type, now the standard for all Alliance warships. Engines As with most Alliance ships, the Leda II-class uses a single large plasma thruster for primary propulsion. Unlike most battleship designs, the engine is oriented horizontally. Leda II introduced a newer high-thrust model, providing 40% greater output than previous models albeit at the cost of increased propellant consumption, necessitating the addition of Boussard ramscoops. Atmospheric operation capability was added, with the ramscoops serving as a sort of jet intake in the atmosphere, admitting air which is then heated and expelled by the engines, increasing their efficiency in atmospheric environments. The distribution of maneuvering thrusters around the hull make the Leda II-class quite agile, and able to react to quick situational changes. Category:New Free Planets Alliance Category:Military Equipment Category:Free Planets Star Fleet Category:Starships